I am curious to see why so few hunters use these ?? I have always had great results on medium and small game. I do not expect anyone to use them on the real big critters, but there are so many More smaller critters. I have some recovered bullets from Impala and Whitetail deer both about 70% of their original weight. Both bullets are mushroomed. I have seen deer killed from many calibers with ballistic tips very few recovered bullets as most exited . From my rifles they fly straighter at long range and cut the wind better than most others. No other bullet I have seen delievers shock at any range like the original super soft Ballistic tip. Also the warthogs I shot at different ranges all died instantly with a ballistic tip slammed into the shoulder. Your thoughts please.

Simple reason - you never know what might pop up and need to be shot!!!

It's not to say that BTs ain't great game bullets - they are, but you know that they can be a bit fragile when they hit bone!

This is the reason I don't use them on Feral hogs.

Jeff

Nosler BTs might make a good whitetail bullet, but they're a lousy big game bullet because they have a tendancy to blow up. I would NOT consider using them in Africa for any reason.

If I had to choose between a BT load that produced 1/2" groups and, let's say, a Winchester Fail-Safe load that produced 1.25" groups, I'd take the FS load and go hunting.

Too many guys select hunting bullets based on benchrest results, rather than terminal performance requirements based on the toughest possible animal and the worst circumstance you might encounter, which is what you must do as you prepare for Africa.

AD

Warthogs or wild boar? Most people think African animials "take more killing" than do NA whitetails.
I don't think I would like to use them on the really small antelope ie Steenbok etc. I think the hide damage on exit would be terrible. The heavier 375 etc do less damage as they are designed to require more restance to open and act more like a solid. Just my .02.

I shoot my little stuff with solids when possible!

JW

Jeff, I agree and do the same, but that doesn't work all the time. I shot my Klippy with a solid but he was standing in front of a rock on a koppie and closer than we thought. The solid passed cleanly thru but when it hit the close rock it shattered the rock and the blow back played hell with the hide, but luckly the positioning of the mount allowed the taxidermist to pull and patch so no one can tell.

I don't know if they will work or not, but if I was spending a small fortune going on a great hunt, I would buy myself the good insurance policy the comes with a premium bullet like a Nosler partition, Northfork, GS Customs, or Woodleigh..that is what I would do, but to each his own and we all have to live with our decisions, good or bad.....

I quit using BT's even on thin skinned game several years ago. I'll be the first to admit that their effect on antelope and deer can be awe inspiring. They honestly produce kills that look like lightning strikes. The thing that bothered me is that the kills I made that were so spectacular were all chest hits with no bones hit. One of the last animals I took with one was a large pronghorn buck hit square on in the center of the chest facing me at about 75 yds. Greg Severnsen from Cabela's happened to be with the outfitter guiding me that day, and all three of us stated that we had never seen a more instant kill. When we gutted the buck, the entire chest cavity was liquid, and this is not an exageratiion. After seeing this two or three times, I stopped using the bullet. It became obvious if I ever misplaced a shot and hit a bone, the effect would be the same as shooting a large animal with a varmint bullet (horrible surface wound and lost animal). I have gone to heavier, controlled expansion bullets at moderate velocity. Any shot with them which would have killed with the BT will kill with them, albeit somewhat slower. The big difference is that they will kill with shot placements which would yield a lost animal with the BT. That's my opinion anyway.

The anatomy of most African animals is quite different from that of a Whitetail. Most Whitetail deer are shot just behind the shoulder on a broadside shot. On most African game, a shot behind the shoulder will generally lead to a long tracking job. Their lungs are usually more forward, and on a broadside shot, the bullet should be placed through the shoulder to take out the lungs, and/or heart.

Not that cut and dried Mike, some is and some ain't in Africa...You can shoot a Sable, any of the cats, all the wildebeest, and Hartebeest and others I don't recall BEHIND the shoulder, but not the Zebra, Buffalo, elephant, Eland, Impala, Giraffe...However a high behind the the shoulder shot will put any of them down within a reasonalbe run IMO, if you use enough gun.

I'm no expert on hunting anything in Africa but I do know reloading and shooting my reloads into animals. I hunt moose and elk as my bigger game animals with my reloads in a 270. Intresting enough up until a few years ago the 270 was THE elk caliber.
Elk and moose have a heavy bone system, certainly as heavy or heavier than anything in the plains game family up to kudu, oryx an such. Any good quality bullet even most factory foder will perform well on that size animal with shoulder shots in the proper powder/bullet combo in a 270 and up.
As far as needing to stop a dangerous game animal on my safari the PH told me there's no chance of it so I shall take my 270 and a 45-70 for the larger animals.
I saw in another thread where a man has pictures of a lion, elephant,leopard, cape buffalo shot with a bow and arrow. I would think even a 270 has more stopping power than a bow.

cats, w/ all due respect, that tired argument about guys that bow hunt just gets a bit old. There is a big diff. in the distances the animals are taken. The bow hunters area backed up by a PH w/a rifle.
Bullets can do funny things when used beyond their design. A NBT delivered @ 300yds is way diff. than one impacting @ 30yds. This is probably the biggest reason NOT to use them in Africa, that & as Jeff said, you never know what you may bump into. Also you almost never get a full broadside shot on an animal in the bush. If you wait for that shot, you probably don't get that animal. I have shot more of my African game 1/4 on or away than broadside. Even w/ a broadside shot, many PHs will tell you to put the bullet 1/3 up, right on the leg for many species. I would not want to trust a trophy fee to a bullet I HOPE will get through to the vitals for such shots.

Cats, my son and I hunted with a .270 and a .375 last August in both TZ and RSA. The .270 was custom loaded with Barnes X 150 gr. and shot a 1/2" group off a rest at 100 yds.

Out of 14 animals taken, only two were with the .375. Scotty killed an Eland quartering away at 250 yds with a shot from the .270 and recovered the bullet from the skin of his offside neck. I had another 250 or so yard shot on a gemsbok and the bullet performed well.

In any event, I would recommend the bullet. And 250 to 275 is probably the outside range.

Good luck, Keith

News Flash:

Nosler has recently recalled all BTs.

The only exception is that Nosler will permit a select few (who will be notified at certain AOL IP blocks) to use their ballistic tips only in caliber .458, in .45-70 lever guns, and then only on cats.